LIBRI DI ANDREA PICCALUGA

Il settore delle biciclette è al centro di importanti cambiamenti di natura tecnologica, economica e sociale. Con l’obiettivo di cogliere la portata di questi mutamenti, il volume affronta il tema dell’importanza strategica del settore della bicicletta, specialmente per un paese come l’Italia. Un testo destinato non solo agli appassionati di bicicletta, ma anche a coloro che – come imprenditori, manager e policy makers – sono attivi nella produzione e valorizzazione di questo mezzo di mobilità.

This paper aims at providing a first base of knowledge for the analysis of the strategies adopted by the Italian companies investing in Japan in high technology industries. Despite the Italian industrial system being only marginally present in the Japanese market, in comparison to other European countries, interesting interaction dynamics are detectable between Japanese and Italian industrial companies active in medium and high-tech technology sectors. By adopting the Uppsala model for internationalization and the IMP Group relationship marketing perspective, four case studies of Italian companies who successfully invested in Japan are addressed. Beyond analyzing companies’ activities in Japan and their integration in local supply chains adopting a stage-based approach, the paper offers a view of Japan as a "learning market" for the investing firms, especially in terms of acquired competitive advantages and potential gains to be exploited also in other attractable markets for their business.

L’articolo - attraverso l’analisi delle strategie che El.En, una impresa high-tech nata nel 1981 come spin off della ricerca accademica, ha adottato per affrontare e gestire la crisi economica nel quinquennio 2007-11 - ha l’obiettivo di evidenziare e discutere alcuni elementi rilevanti presenti nella letteratura industriale e manageriale italiana in tema di competitività della media impresa. Dall’analisi dell’esperienza El.En. - che ha saputo affrontare la crisi investendo in R&S, ponendo al centro l’innovazione, acquisendo imprese e perseguendo una strategia di internazionalizzazione compiuta - emergono interessanti spunti di ricerca per proseguire nella individuazione, approfondimento e sistematizzazione dei fattori di solidità e competitività delle medie imprese nei settori high tech.

The paper provides detailed evidence on technology transfer offices (TTOs) in Italian universities by analyzing a large and original university-level database built by Netval for the 2002-2010 period and providing updated empirical results on the three main channels of research valorization: (i) patenting; (ii) licensing; and (iii) spin-off creation. The evidence highlights the progress achieved in Italy’s technology transfer dynamics over recent years and the possible future developments.

Il volume offre una visione organica dei fattori di successo e di sostenibilità della media impresa italiana. Presenta un modello analitico basato su quattro asset (imprenditorialità, competitività, organizzazione e internazionalizzazione) e alcune chiavi di lettura generali, nonché le relative implicazioni per la gestione delle imprese e per le decisioni di policy. Analizza infine trenta casi di studio per sviluppare il modello analitico e le relative implicazioni.

Le implicazioni della crescita eco-sostenibile per l’edilizia abitativa, i suoi risvolti per l’innovazione applicata e incorporata nel “prodotto casa” e le conseguenze sulle scelte di mercato delle imprese e degli acquirenti. Dai contributi raccolti emerge la natura multidimensionale dell’innovazione, che appare come il risultato di un processo che coinvolge, oltre alle imprese costruttrici, i progettisti (architetti e ingegneri) e i produttori di materiali e componenti.

High-tech marketing concepts can be useful to understand important aspects of R&D and technology management. This is due to the fact that the acquisition, improvement and exploitation of intangible assets have become critical for firms’ competitiveness. Firms can leverage their R&D investment both internally and externally, as direct producers or buyers and sellers on markets for technologies. Intangible assets are the object of complex transactions and key complementary assets to combine with new innovations. Strategic decisions in technology marketing take into account factors such as the phase of evolution of a technology and the firm’s position with respect to incumbents. This paper offers a theoretical framework to differentiate four possible scenarios, according to the type of innovations, the control over complementary assets and the presence of a dominant paradigm for the exploitation of a technology. The cases of four large industrial R&D labs are used to illustrate these possible scenarios. An effective marketing strategy, clear leadership, and attention to intellectual property issues seem to emerge as determinant factors of success.

This article by Piccaluga and Patrono represents an attempt to collect and discuss data about patents held by Italian public research centres. More precisely, European (EPO) and US (USPTO) patents assigned in the period 1982-2001 are taken into account. The paper also includes a survey among inventors who were asked information about the patenting process and about possibile licensing initiatives. Results indicate that patenting activity by this kind of institutions is slowly growing in Italy, although a faster increase for the next future can be expected. Italian public research centres account for almost 400 European and US patents in the 1982-2001 period, but licensing activity is very scarse. This can be attributed to bureaucratic difficulties and to the fact that a "licensing culture" is relatively recent in Italian public institutions, and as a consequence specific offices and human resources have been dedicated to this issue only in a few, albeit relevant cases. On the whole, it seems that the future in this field will present very interesting economic opportunities, relevant decisions about the orientation of scientific research, as well as new organisation procedures and structures. Undoubtedly, public research centres will have to take into account both the acquisition of the literature about the new economics of science and the best managerial practices available in the field of technology management.